Let's take our Bibles now and
turn to 2 Timothy chapter 2. My subject this morning and the
reason why I read to you from Matthew chapter 7 is that I want
to talk to you about a sure foundation. A sure foundation. Nothing is
going to stop the trials that we're going to pass through in
this world. Nothing's going to stop these providential things. Disasters, cancer, disease, death,
suffering. Nothing's going to stop these
things. These things are coming. They're coming. It may be that
in your lifetime you'll be spared from some of these things, God's
going to send trials to prove our faith. Not prove it to Him. He's the giver of it. But to
prove it to us and to prove it to this world. Trials. I read to you His parable over
there in Matthew chapter 7. And He said, the wise man built
his house upon the rocks. And the wind blew. And the rains
came. But the house stood. And the
foolish man built his house on the sand. And the rains came
and the wind blew and all the same things happened to them
that happened to us. Same thing. But his house didn't
stand because he built it upon the sand. That's my subject to
you this morning is your foundation. Now just hold your place here
in Second Timothy and let me say a few things by way of introduction. First of all, my comments to
you this morning will be based on the Word of God alone. This is not my opinion. I hear
that so much. Well, that's your opinion. It's
not my opinion. It's the plain declaration of
the Word of God. All you have to do is read it.
All you have to do is read it. Plain statements in the Word
of God, he uses no more than two-syllable words. And what I have to say to you
is concerning you and the Lord your God. I'm not interested
in what you think. I'm not interested in what your
mother thought, or your father thought, or what Billy Graham
thinks, or what the Pope in Rome thinks. Let God be true and everybody
else a liar. Everything I have to say to you
this morning will be based upon the Word of God. If you're not
interested in the Word of God, you're a fool. You're a fool. One day you'll
stand before God and you'll babble with the rest of this religious
world Have not I done this? And have not I done this? It
ain't about what you do, it's about what He did. And you'd
know that if you read the Word of God. Or if you just sit and
listen while I declare to you the Word of God. Let God be true and every man
a liar. Men and women are quick to give
their opinions and objections. But the Bible said, who art thou
that replies against God? I want you to just stop for a
minute and think about your objections, and think about your excuses,
and think about what you're saying. And think about what God said
in Romans chapter 9, who art thou that replies against God? Shall the thing form, say unto
him that formed it, why hast thou made me thus? You have no other source of information,
no other source of information about God than the Word of God.
The Bible itself said to the law and the testimony, if they
speak not according to this Word, it's because there's no light
in them. If a man stands and he speaks
contrary to the Word of God, it's because he's full of darkness. If your hope before God and your
understanding of sin and righteousness and heaven and hell is not resting
entirely upon the Word of God, it will not stand in the day
of judgment. You're building your house upon
the sand, upon the sand of man's wisdom. and man's darkness. And then secondly, the Bible
tells us plainly that we must hear, understand, and believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ to be saved. Other foundation can no
man lay than that which is laid, Jesus Christ. That's the foundation. Jesus Christ is the stone, said
it not, of you builders, that is, you religious men and women,
you Jews, The picture of false religion. Jesus Christ is the stone, said
it not, of the builders, which is become the head of the corner.
Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none
other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be
saved. Now, I'm going to tell you something. You can be reformed without Christ. You can be religious without
Christ. You can minister to the needs
of others without Christ. But you cannot be saved apart
from hearing, understanding, and believing on the Lord Jesus
Christ, keeping the commandments of God.
would not make you acceptable to God or produce a righteousness
of which He will approve. Listen to the Word of God. Romans
chapter 3, verse 20. Therefore, that is because both
Jews and Gentiles are all under sin, because there is none righteous. You can take your time and read
through Romans chapter 3. All these things are stated very
clearly there. Because there is none righteous,
because there is none that understandeth and none that seeketh after God,
because mankind has altogether become unprofitable, because
they have the nature of a viper and mouths full of cursing and
bitterness, because destruction and misery are in their ways,
because they are ignorant of the way of peace, and because
there is no fear of God before their eyes. Therefore, based upon that declaration
of truth, therefore, by the deeds of the law, there shall no flesh
be justified in his sight. I don't care how sincere you
are. Doesn't make any difference. By the law is the knowledge of
sin. You read it. You study it. You
memorize it. You try to practice it. And I
tell you what you're going to find out. You're going to find
out you're a sinner. And you're going to spend your
whole life falling short. Isn't that what Paul said? For
all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Preacher, don't you believe a
man If a man minds his own business and does the best he can, that
God will accept him? No, I don't believe that. I don't
believe that. A man at his best state is altogether
vanity, whether he does the best or the worst. The best that he
can do, at his best state, he's altogether vanity. And I'm telling
you as plainly and candidly as I know how that apart from hearing
and understanding and believing on the Lord Jesus Christ, you're
going to be damned. Our Lord said to His disciples,
go ye into all the world and preach the gospel. He that believeth
and is baptized shall be saved. He that believeth not, what?
Shall be damned. Isn't that what Scripture says?
That's what God said. The question was asked, well, if
you believe that mankind's dead in trespasses and sins, if you
believe they're totally depraved and walk in darkness, if you
believe that they're influenced by Satan and deceived by another
gospel, how can you expect them to believe? Why do you plead
with men to believe? Why do you command men to do
what you already know they can't do? How can you appeal to them
to reason and understand? The same way Ezekiel did to those
dead, dry bones. Exactly the same way, by the
commandment of God. by the commandment of God. He
said, Son of man, what do you see? He said, I see bones. Dead,
dry bones. And there are very many, and
they are very dry. And then the Lord asked him that
same question. Can those bones live? Can they? And he thought about it a while,
and thought about who he was talking to, and he said, O Lord
God, Thou knowest. You know. I don't know. I don't
know. I don't see no potential in them.
Huh? I don't see no potential in them. Oh Lord God, Thou knowest. Thou
knowest. What do they tell you? Preach
to them. What? They're bones. They're dead. What's the point?
Preach to them. How they going to hear? How they
going to understand? Preach to them. Preach to them. What will I tell them? Tell them
to live. Tell them to live. Tell them
where life is. And lo and behold, the bones
there was a mighty shaking. And God did what the preacher
can't do. He shook the bones. And He caused
sinew to come up on the bones. And He caused life to come into
the bones. And He caused those bones to
stand up a great army. Preach to them. Why? Because
God said to do it. That's why. God said it pleased Him by the
foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. This is the
means chosen of God to manifest His power to cause us to become
sons of God. John said He was in the world.
The world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. He came
unto His own, and His own received Him not. But as many as received
Him, Received Him as He set forth in the Holy Scriptures. Received
Him as He set forth in the Gospel of Christ. As many as received
Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God. Even
to them that believe on His name, which were born not of blood,
nor the will of the flesh, nor the will of man, but of God.
God the Holy Spirit works in conjunction with the preaching
of the Gospel. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 4.15 that in Christ Jesus, he
said, I have begotten you through the gospel. My gospel, he said, came not
unto you in word only. That's how come I know your lectures.
But it came to you in power and in the Holy Ghost. I am not ashamed,
he told the saints at Rome of the Gospel of Christ, for it
is the power of God unto salvation. Being born again, Peter said,
not of corruptible seed, but incorruptible by the Word of
God. And this is the Word which by the Gospel is preached unto
you. God has from the beginning chosen
you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the
truth. Whereunto He called you by our gospel. The new birth is manifested in
a man's hearing, his understanding, his believing in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now with this in mind, let me
read my text to you in II Timothy 2.19. He is talking here about
these false prophets and their unending questions and their
babblings and their darkness and their ignorance and how they
won't submit to the authority of God or the means of God. They
are rebels. They are rebels. They are pretenders.
And He is dealing with this young minister and telling them about
thee. And then He says in verse 19,
nevertheless, nevertheless, The foundation of God standeth
sure. Having this seal, the Lord knoweth
them that are His. And let every man, let every
woman, let every believing soul that nameth the name of Christ,
that is, takes to himself that name, Christian. Let every man
that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity. There's two things which Paul
speaks of here concerning this sure foundation. The first is
the divine work of grace in our hearts. If you'll read the preceding
verses, you'll see that he's addressing the teaching of false
doctrine, the teaching of these men who are not sin of God. And he tells Timothy, he said,
To show thyself approved of God, a workman that needeth not to
be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. Verse 15. And then verse 16. Shun profane
and vain babblings, for they will increase unto more ungodliness. Verse 17. And their word eats
like a cancer. That's what that word canker
means. Of whom Hymenaeus and Philetus. who concerning the
truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already,
and they overthrew the faith of some. Faith, my friend, is
not born of circumstance and chance. Our Lord said, I must
needs go through Samaria. How come? How come Samaria is
not even in the past? What do you want to go way over
there to Samaria for? Because he had one of his own
over there. That woman at the well, that
Samaritan woman, I must need to go to Samaria. He must need to go to Missouri,
and he did. And he must need to come to Taylor,
Arkansas and Texarkana. He must need to go where his
elect is. There was a woman there in Samaria
for whom he came and lived and died. Faith is a divine gift. You can't produce it. Preachers talk as though men
could produce this. You can't produce this faith.
It's the gift of God. It's given of God. It's a divine
work in the heart. You can't unravel it. You can't
figure it out. It's a revelation. By grace are
you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is
the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. Where
his workmanship, he tells us, Ephesians 2.10, created in Christ
Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that
we should walk in. What kind of good works is he
talking about here? He's talking about wearing your dresses long
and your hair long. What's he talking about here?
He's talking about what he just talked about. He's talking about
faith. Faith is a good work. That's a good work. Repentance
is a good work. Love is a good work. And there
are works that you can't produce. Paul, having preached to the
Philippians, having established the truth
of the Gospel, he said to them now, he said, work out your own
salvation in fear and trembling. For it is God that worketh in
you, both the will and the do of His good pleasure. There's
not the slightest chance that any man chosen of God purchased
by Christ should not come to repentance and faith. They will
all be brought to repentance and faith. Peter said, The Lord is longsuffering
to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should
come to repentance. Isn't that what he said? He's
not willing that any of them are going to perish. He said, You believe not, because
you are not of My sheep. As I said unto you, My sheep
hear My voice, and I know them, and they know Me, and they follow
Me, and I give unto them eternal life, and they will never perish.
Do you know why they will never perish? He is not willing for
any of them to perish. And no man, He said, is going
to pluck them out of My hand. and not the slightest chance
that any man chosen of God and purchased by Christ should not
come to repentance and faith." Well, does that mean men don't
seek the Lord? Does that mean they don't reason
over the truth? Is that what you're saying? Does
that mean that men don't pray or read or study the Word of
God? No, it guarantees that they will. It guarantees that they
will. Nobody else will. I had no interest in the Word
of God. I live in the life of a rebel.
I had no interest in it. I didn't go home at night and
repent over the sins of the day and take the Bible and get in
there in the candlelight like see those pictures of them old
people in there praying and reading the Word of God. I didn't do
that. I had no interest in the book. I didn't even own one. But he made an interest. He brought
it to pass in such a way that I had to have an interest. He
put me in a situation that demanded an interest. And then he crossed
my path with a preacher who told me the truth, and then I really
had an interest. You can't generate these things.
You can't make these things up. It's God who worketh in you. And when He begins to work in
you, it's obvious to a believer He's already been through it.
And that's what Paul said to those Philippians. Now, go work
out your own salvation in fear and trembling. You will. You
will. Preacher, you're saying that
a man, you're telling men they can't exercise their will. No,
I'm not. I'm giving you the reason why
they'll exercise their will. It's God who worketh in you both
to will and to do of His good pleasure. My people shall be
willing in the day of my power. They'll be willing. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me. What a statement! What a statement! Why will they come to Him? Why
will they come to Him? Because He won't leave them alone.
That's why. He won't leave them alone. And Him that cometh to me, I
will in no wise cast out. Believers are sealed with the
Holy Spirit of promise. He tells us in Hebrews 10.39,
we're not of them who draw back unto perdition, but of them that
believe to the saving of the soul. Well, why don't we turn
back? We have opportunity every day.
If we followed these evil hearts,
we would. What keeps us from turning back? We're not of them. We're not of them. The foundation
of God stands as sure. His Word is a sure foundation. And faith rests upon Jesus Christ,
the chief cornerstone of this foundation. Faith is the work of God and
the gift of His grace. This foundation is sure because
God laid the foundation and then laid us on the foundation. And
it's sure. It's sure. Faith is the work of God. And
then secondly, this foundation stand ashore having this seal,
the Lord knoweth them that are here. He knows them by way of
eternal election. Any honest man who reads the
Scriptures must conclude that God chose a people in Christ
before the world began. If you can read, if you've got
any understanding of literature at all, And any honest man who
reads this book without some kind of preconceived prejudice
in his mind, if you'll just read the book, you must conclude that
God chose a people in Christ. Because that's exactly what it
says. Paul told the Ephesians that
God the Father blessed them with all spiritual blessings in heavenly
places in Christ Jesus. according as He had chosen them
in Him before the foundation of the world. In John 17, our
Lord said that the Father had given Him power over all flesh,
that He should give eternal life to as many as His Father had
given unto Him. He told the Thessalonians, He
said, I know your election of God. We are talking about election. God said, Isaac's wife, Rebecca,
concerning her two unborn children. He said, the elder is going to
serve the younger. Why? Because it's written, Jacob
have I loved, and Esau have I hated. Why would God make a statement
like that to that woman? You know what it says in Romans
chapter 9? That the purpose of God, according to election, might
stand. That's why it was said. Peter writes to the Gentile churches
scattered abroad, recognizing them as elect according to the
foreknowledge of God. And the Lord said to the unbelieving
Jews, you believe not, because you are not of My sheep. When that great and final day
of the Lord shall come, it said, He shall send forth His angels
to gather what? His elect. Now what does Scripture
say? Well, I just don't believe in
election. You need to read the Bible. You need to throw away those
old traditional understandings that you've been taught and read
the Word of God. Who shall lay anything? This
is what Paul's saying. He's offering them comfort. He's
offering them hope. And he said, who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? For it is God who justified who? His elect. Who is He that condemneth? It
is Christ that died. Died for who? Died for His elect. By way of eternal election, provision
was made for the salvation of His people in the person of the
Lord Jesus Christ. The called of God or the called
according to His purpose, Romans 8.28. Whom He did foreknow, He also
did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son. And
whom He did predestinate, them He also called. And whom He called,
them He also justified. And whom He justified, them He
also glorified. What shall we say to these things?
Will anybody with any sanity at all going to say this? If
God be for us, who can be against us? Preacher, you're a hardship.
No sir, I don't believe God saves men and women no matter what.
I'm not a hardship. I don't believe in a salvation
without means and without repentance and without faith. I don't believe
that God saves a man and leaves his old nature to reign in his
life. But I do believe in an eternal
election that makes provision for the sinner. Designs means for his salvation. I do believe in an election that
makes provision for His calling, His conversion, His preservation,
and His glorification. I do believe in an election that
provides His chosen with a substitute for their sins who close them
in the perfect righteousness of their representative, the
Lord Jesus Christ. I do believe in an election that
provides a calling through the gospel ordained of God and by
way of messengers who are sent of God. I do believe in an election
that designs the very spirit of God to work in you. Listen to what Paul's telling
this young man. The foundation of God standeth
sure. It standeth sure. All that he's
done concerning this foundation is sure. And it's sealed with
this seal. He knows his own. He knows His own. The Lord knoweth
them that are His. They are His by eternal election. They are His by representation
and substitution. And they are His by the purchase
of His own blood. They are His by a vital union
of faith. And He is by an inward work of
the Spirit of God. Now let me give you this, and
I'll quit. 2 Timothy 2.19 The very last line
of the verse. Let everyone that nameth the
name of Christ depart from iniquity. This departure is a principle
of the heart. Until God instills that principle
in a man's heart, he'll never leave iniquity. He'll never leave
it. He'll never turn from it. There is no physical way to depart
from iniquity. Sin is in us and sin is around
us. But like Noah of old, we're making
preparation to leave it behind. We're departing. Noah was here
for 120 years. For 120 years that man was departing. How was he getting ready to depart?
By the direction of God. The direction of God. God gave
him instruction on a vessel that would preserve him through the
condemnation of God. And he put that thing together. He put that thing together. There
never was a ship built before Noah built that one. It never
rained. Can you imagine how foolish he
seemed? What are you doing? I'm making
preparation to leave. You see what he's saying here?
Let every man who nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity. Make preparation to leave it.
Turn from it. Like Israel of old, we see Egypt
in its true colors, and we're willing to be led out of this
idolatry and wickedness. And any man who goes on unaffected
by sin is a lost man. The first work of grace in the
heart is to convince us of sin. And when you're convinced of
sin, you'll see it in its true colors, and you won't want anything
to do with it. I'm not saying you're going to
be sinless, but I'm saying you'll recognize it and turn from it.
It's evil. It's wicked. And you can't turn to Christ
until you turn from sin. It's all one motion. It's all
the same gift. And in our lifetimes, this principle
of grace is working, turning, turning, turning, turning, turning.
Turning phone, turning tape.